Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between tool specialists and certified medical technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a tool specialist, becoming a certified medical technician takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a tool specialist has an average salary of $84,797, which is higher than the $38,859 average annual salary of a certified medical technician.
The top three skills for a tool specialist include calipers, safety procedures and hand tools. The most important skills for a certified medical technician are patients, vital signs, and CPR.
A Tool Specialist designs and carries out maintenance on tools that are used on certain manufacturing equipment and machines. Your key role is to track data on fixtures on tooling and create an estimated cost for repairs, help in assembling new tools as well as carrying out other duties in a manufacturing environment. Besides, you will be responsible for giving your input in the pricing of tools, conducting product reviews, and monitoring the maintenance of tools. You will also troubleshoot parts of your samples or newer parts when they malfunction.
Certified Medical Technicians are specialists in medical diagnoses by performing laboratory testing and analysis for hospitals and physicians. Their duties include lab sanitization to prepare for testing and collection, recording medical samples for testing, specimen preparation, blood drawing for donation and testing, and assisting physicians with sample collection as well as equipment handling in surgical rooms. They must also understand how to use complex and sensitive testing equipment such as cell counters, analyzers, microscopes, and centrifuges.
Tool specialists and certified medical technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Tool Specialist | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Average salary | $84,797 | $38,859 |
| Salary range | Between $62,000 And $115,000 | Between $28,000 And $53,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Denton, TX |
| Highest paying state | California | Alaska |
| Best paying company | GoPro | Favorite Healthcare Staffing |
| Best paying industry | Automotive | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a tool specialist and a certified medical technician in terms of educational background:
| Tool Specialist | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 34% | Bachelor's Degree, 28% |
| Most common major | Business | Nursing |
| Most common college | - | University of Connecticut |
Here are the differences between tool specialists' and certified medical technicians' demographics:
| Tool Specialist | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Average age | 54 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 89.6% Female, 10.4% | Male, 20.4% Female, 79.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 2.4% Unknown, 2.8% Hispanic or Latino, 6.4% Asian, 2.7% White, 84.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% | Black or African American, 15.9% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 10.0% White, 53.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 3% | 8% |